CRM - October 2008 - (Page 16)

CRM TRENDS AND NEWS ANALYSIS W tions that deliver really poor experiences and do it badly, as we’ve seen with Sprint, it takes quarters and years [to improve],” says Bruce Temkin, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research who focuses on the customer experience. “I don’t think anything changes in months. If we look out 18 months and beyond—and if Hesse really believes in the customer experience and is invested in transforming Sprint—it certainly can improve.” The changes need to be in the company’s culture, Temkin says—not just with its marketing. Following the ads of Hesse committing to a complete turnaround, and asking customers to email him with complaints and to give Sprint another chance, the company says it received thousands of emails from customers happy to share their views. Despite Sprint’s earlier purchases of domains The mobile-service provider runs into problems and looks to such as ihatesprint.com, Web sites dedicustomer experience as a solution cated to bashing the company and its hen an organization’s in- reputation for customer service, already flawed customer interactions continue to ternal problems become battered after a much-publicized effort to thrive. It’s going to take a lot more than public, how does that af- weed out “troublesome” customers, took emails to the CEO for Sprint to fully fect its customer service? another hit with recent headlines over grasp—let alone improve—its situation. “I want to see a CEO initiate much And if those customers begin feeling ex- illegal termination fees and a New York pendable, what can the company do to Times article in which an employee at more focus on what they’re doing keep the right ones? Dan Hesse, the chief Sprint headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., to employees than what they’re communicating to customers,” executive officer of Sprint, the nation’s compared the work environTemkin says. “Before you number-three provider of mobile-phone ment to the prison in the film Does emailing the can hope to have customers The Shawshank Redemption. service, is trying to find out. CEO improve the believe that you’re deliverHesse has promised to When Hesse took the reins last Deing a great experience, your cember, Sprint was already weathering a turn things around, prima- customer experience? employees need to believe rough patch: Running a distant third to rily with customer service. AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the To start, Hesse told customers to email it.” At the end of the day, he says, United States mobile marketplace, him directly, lending a human face to Sprint’s issues are not primarily related Sprint was still trying to digest its 2005 the company’s efforts. But with so to customer experience. They’re more a merger with Nextel, a $35 billion deal many problems that the public is case of flawed management and interthat promised massive synergies, most painfully aware of, is it possible to nal disconnect. And that, he says. is of which never materialized. The com- change the customer experience with something that even the best billboards can’t fix. pany’s marketing was drowned out little more than a new suggestion box? “You can’t advertise and market your Step One when customers are privy to amid the hoopla surrounding AT&T’s exclusive deal to provide service for a company’s internal dissonance is to re- way out of bad experiences,” he says. —Lauren McKay Apple’s wildly popular iPhone. And its build their confidence. “With organiza- Sprinting Toward Disaster? 16 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | OCTOBER 2008 www.destinationCRM.com http://www.ihatesprint.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2008

CRM - October 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality�Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Sprinting Toward Disaster? SAP�Retains Market-Share Lead in�CRM A�Week of Strong Customer�Service CRM�on Twitter Build a Good Event and They Will Come Required Reading There's No Place Like Home The New Breed of CRM�Consultant The Price is Right...You Hope How Much Marketing is Too�Much? The�Sweet Smell of High-Quality�Service The Next Act! For An Acquisition Some Stories Never Get Old CRM�Eases the Pressure For WIKA�Instruments Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - October 2008

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